ADDIS ABABA and SEOUL –March 12-14, 2013 –Øystein Kåre Djupedal, Norway’s representative to the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute and Governor of Aust-Agder County in Norway, visited Ethiopia from March 11 to 12. During the visit H.E. Odd-Inge Kvalheim, the Norwegian Ambassador to Ethiopia, signed a Grant Agreement in which Norway agreed to provide funding for GGGI’s work in Ethiopia. Governor Djupedal was next in Seoul where the Grant Agreement was counter-signed in the presence of Mesfin Midekssa, Chargé d’Affaires of Ethiopia to the Republic of Korea and Richard Samans, Director-General of GGGI.

The Agreement states that the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide approximately $8 million over the course of two years and is part of Norway’s broader global support for GGGI. The Ceremony was held at GGGI headquarters in Seoul on March 14, 2013.

Governor Øystein was in Ethiopia as part of his first official visit as a GGGI Council Member, accompanied by a team from GGGI led by Mattia Romani, GGGI’s Deputy Director General. The trip allowed the Governor to see firsthand GGGI’s work in Ethiopia and included a visit to the government’s wind power project in Adama. The governor also met with government officials and private sector leaders to discuss growth contributions to the Ethiopian economy.

A field visit to Adama 1 Windfarm Project (95 km East of Addis Ababa).

GGGI has been working with the Government of Ethiopia since 2010 in developing a green growth plan for its economy. Ethiopia has an ambition to become a middle-income country by 2025. The government has repeatedly expressed that traditional development – one that is carbon intensive and results in environmental degradation – is not sustainable. The country is therefore committed to building a Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE), and formally launched its ‘CRGE vision’ in late 2011. Ethiopia hopes to build a zero carbon growth economy that is able to withstand the shocks presented by a changing climate.